1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to the field of display and storage apparatus. In particular, it is an apparatus and method for displaying and storing items at an elevated height which can be pulled down to a convenient height to remove the items from the apparatus. In one aspect, this invention is directed to a support or a shelf with a movable display device and in another aspect to a merchandise case with a movable display device.
2. Description of Related Art
New products for the consumer and competing brands of the same product are constantly being developed. One of the chief problems facing retail stores is finding the shelf space to display these items for sale to customers. For example, grocery store space is allocated to competing vendors and producers. Vendors are constantly fighting for more shelf space. This shortage of shelf space makes it difficult to display new products and forces vendors to cannibalize a portion of their allocated space simply to display new products. Because of their small size, convenience stores face this problem to a greater degree than grocery stores.
In most retail stores, all available floor and display space has been utilized to the fullest extent. Items are displayed as high as an average customer can reach. This usually means products are displayed from the floor to a height of about six feet above the floor. Products displayed at a greater height are impossible to reach. In modern "warehouse stores," items are displayed to a height of about seven feet and cannot be reached by short customers. The space above seven feet is used to store similar items in stacks.
If it can be shoehorned into an existing store, additional display space costs the retailer an insignificant amount of money. Overhead in terms of rent, utilities and labor remains practically the same, but the number and type of items that can be displayed and sold increases, increasing sales per square foot of store. A retailer can save significant amounts of energy and money in a smaller store with the same display and shelving footage as a larger store. One solution which may offer additional display space is a set of shelves hanging from a ceiling, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,432.
There has long been a need for something that makes possible the efficient and effective utilization of unused space in stores and warehouses. There has long been a need for something which gives everyone access to items positioned above a normal height and gives certain persons, e.g. those in wheelchairs, access to items which they otherwise could not reach. There has long been a need for such things which do not require great physical strength to operate.